Debating An Offroading Lighting Idea

[profdlp]

I'm putting this in the "Fabrication" forum because these would take some work. I am a member of SG and can get four of these lights for $60:

New U.S. Military Surplus Headlights

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These are 24V lights and I would have to replace the sealed beams inside them. I would also have to hunt down the electrical connectors for the back and whip up a wiring harness. Both of these things are quite doable according to the numerous reviews.

What I'm thinking of doing is mounting four of these to my roof rack as offroad lights. I might try to convert them to LED and maybe even make them a 50-50 mix of spot and wide beam.

I'm thinking that on my Army-Green Jeep these might look pretty cool. What do you all think?

 

[CactusJacked]

I like those. They would match mine better though. :icon_mrgreen:

 

[profdlp]

I just bought four of them. Now to hunt down the rest of the parts...

I also remembered that I had a coupon for $10 off any order. I ended up getting all four of these for $50. :happy107:

The daggone replacement 12V bulbs will cost me more than the lights themselves. I might see what the 28V bulbs look like before I change them out. With four of them on there it may not matter if they're all a little dimmer. (I have no idea how much the voltage drop will affect these, for all I know it won't be much and they might just last twice as long before burning out.) On top of that, these bulbs are Hi/Lo replacement headlights, which means I'm going to get a three-position switch so I can run them either Hi-beam, Low-beam, or both. This ought to be interesting.

• Matte Olive Drab metal housing
• Sturdy mounting bolt with base plate
• 2-pole style connection
• Each has infrared lens for special night work ops
• Each: 6" x 6" x 4 1/2"d., 24V, 3 lbs.
• Made in the USA
• Condition: brand new, never issued.

 

[Dave]

They look like they are good and heavy-duty.


Dave

 

[tommudd]

Personally would NOT DO LEDs , just my opinion but unless you are spending a lot on the bulbs etc , they won't be that bright
How many inches diameter are they ?
Aircraft landing lights may fit and are an awesome longer range light .
I'm building a set of them currently out of some old parts , old fog light housings from a 6 volt system so all wiring will be new of course

 

[CactusJacked]

Funny you should mention aircraft landing lights. I used to use those as the bright beams in my 5-3/4" quad headlight Corvettes. Man do they light up the sky...eh I mean road. Just don't get caught with them, they're illegal. I still have my pair on the shelf.

 

[profdlp]

I abandoned the LED idea when I started thinking about how bright these are to begin with. First off, the replacement PAR36 bulbs are usually found to be listed as replacement headlights for tractors. If two of them can get Farmer Jones back home after dark then I'm sure four of them will be quite dramatic. Throw in the fact that they are dual-filament and I could conceivably light up all eight filaments at once and I doubt I'd find LEDs that could compete. Now that I'm back in Ohio I expect to spend some time offroad down at the family farm just a few hours away.

I also found a variety of inexpensive bulbs with a wide range of flood/Spot options: https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/50-watt-halogen-par36-sealed-beam/

Tom, to answer your question, they are 6" diameter lights. I'm almost wondering if they might be too big.

 

[tommudd]

Funny you should mention aircraft landing lights. I used to use those as the bright beams in my 5-3/4" quad headlight Corvettes. Man do they light up the sky...eh I mean road. Just don't get caught with them, they're illegal. I still have my pair on the shelf.

I used to run them on everything I had
Heading down along the Ohio River near where I lived one night about 4 AM there is one long straight stretch of road , just as I was about out of the curve at one end the lights lit up the door decal on a Sheriffs car . 4 seconds later the lights came on and I'm still aways up the road yet.
Shut the aircraft's off and pulled over
First line is " what the he** were you running and how do I get a set? "
I did work on the Sheriffs personal car ( 70 Olds 442 ) so most of the deputys knew me .
He said I should give ya a ticket but if you install a set for me we'll forget it :happy175::happy175:

 

[tommudd]

I abandoned the LED idea when I started thinking about how bright these are to begin with. First off, the replacement PAR36 bulbs are usually found to be listed as replacement headlights for tractors. If two of them can get Farmer Jones back home after dark then I'm sure four of them will be quite dramatic. Throw in the fact that they are dual-filament and I could conceivably light up all eight filaments at once and I doubt I'd find LEDs that could compete. Now that I'm back in Ohio I expect to spend some time offroad down at the family farm just a few hours away.

I also found a variety of inexpensive bulbs with a wide range of flood/Spot options: https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/50-watt-halogen-par36-sealed-beam/

Tom, to answer your question, they are 6" diameter lights. I'm almost wondering if they might be too big.

They should work find, people run the 6 and 7 inch lights on a basket all the time. May find a way to mount them as low as possible but will work great I think. Would love to have a set of them to " play " with

 

[profdlp]

I received a big box today. It had four smaller boxes inside of it.

(The spark plug box is there to show scale. These are very special lights which don't require their own spark plugs.)

Here is what I have:

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Now I need to come up with wiring (which I can figure out), some clear replacement lenses (I have no clue where to find these, but the ones that were included are so solid I am crying over the fact that they are tinted), and also some mounting brackets. I'd like to attach them to the lower ring of my roof basket, which is about 1" in diameter. (Maybe a little less, I'll have to measure it.)

I'd like something like this: 2X 19mm to 25mm Roll Cage Mount Bracket Clamps for Spot Light Tube LED Light Bar

Those apparently ship from the moon, because the ETA for delivery is the middle of August. There are a lot of the name brand companies selling similar items but they have two main drawbacks:

1) They are generally sized for roll bars or bull bars in the 2-3" diameter range, and...
2) The thieves want $30 apiece for them. I am not spending $120 for four tiny little brackets. I am on drugs, but not that kind. :favorites68:

So my question, dear readers, is this: How would you suggest I mount these?

Suggestions welcome, and if you stop by after I get them mounted we can go out and scare deer together some dark evening. :icon_razz:

 

[tommudd]

Post up a photo of your rack in front, may have some ideas for you

 

[CalcityRenegade]

Man those are cool. Wish I knew about them when I had my Renegade. A couple of them on my brush guard would have looked neat. And they would have matched my Cactus Green.

 

[profdlp]

Post up a photo of your rack in front, may have some ideas for you

I'll try and get some measurements and a good picture tomorrow. :waytogo:

I'm also going to need a source for a replacement non-IR lens cover. (Or buy the daggone goggles, which would be really cool until the coppers caught me.)

My FOUR lights cost me $50 (plus $10 shipping). Glad I didn't buy them here:

https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-6220-00-984-5180-INFRARED-HEADLIGHT-SURVEILLANCE/dp/B01E92WAXE?

That's for ONE light... :blah:

 

[tommudd]

I'll try and get some measurements and a good picture tomorrow. :waytogo:

I'm also going to need a source for a replacement non-IR lens cover. (Or buy the daggone goggles, which would be really cool until the coppers caught me.)

My FOUR lights cost me $50 (plus $10 shipping). Glad I didn't buy them here:

https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-6220-00-984-5180-INFRARED-HEADLIGHT-SURVEILLANCE/dp/B01E92WAXE?

That's for ONE light... :blah:

WHHHHHHOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAA thats ridiculous

 

[profdlp]

Found some pictures of the roof rack. The "RAGE" wind deflector will be removed.

Side view:

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Back view, shows size of bars. I want to mount the lights on the front (duh!) and attach them to the lower bar:

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Front view, kind of dark...:

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[Jbergun]

This is going to be good i think those lights are very cool.

 

[tommudd]

Found some pictures of the roof rack. The "RAGE" wind deflector will be removed.

Side view:

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Back view, shows size of bars. I want to mount the lights on the front (duh!) and attach them to the lower bar:

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Front view, kind of dark...:

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OK let me see if I can explain what my thoughts are
First leave the deflector there , it will be need to keep wind noise down.
NOW I would rake a piece of flat stock and start it back almost to the front of the stock roof rail bracket( front foot) and angle down to about an in ch above the roof line . Now another piece coming straight down front the front of the roof rack. Now from one side to the other more flat bar. OF course now the roof curves so will have to bend it to go with the curvature. BUT middle section keep flat about 12 inches, this is where the two middle lights will sit . then curves down to another flat area for each of the outside lights . Take some work but doable
What this will do is allow the lights to sit as close to the roof line and not stick up too far, also with the 2 center being up slightly higher will give a unique look to it instead of straight across
IMO anyways, I'll work on a drawing for you
Its in my head , and I never draw anything out just fashion it as I go
If you were closer we could knock it out in a couple of hours

OR

you could mount them upside down with brackets from the top
I know you were looking at those mounts you listed but with the height of the lights its going to put them a good bit above the rack I would guess
On my RL rack I used tail gate brackets from Farm and Fleet that had an inch drop and worked but it had a place to mount them to

 

[tommudd]

Not good with this drawing crap, but you sort of get the idea, could run the bottom out more before the bend

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Kind of sort of this way

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better at just grabbing some metal and start fabbing up what is in my head LOL

 

[RENEGADE Concept]

Those are some nice retro looking lights. Good find!

 

[jeeplib05]

I like Tom's idea on the mounting
You'd still get the air going between the lights to hit your deflector and cut out some wind noise
Those were definitely a steal for the price of just one on Amazon
I'll be checking back for your progress pictures :waytogo: